Hamas leader Haniyeh killed while in Iran
Ismail Haniyeh was one of those Hamas leaders living in comfort, luxury, and seeming safety in Qatar since 2017. He was replaced by Sinwar, but became chairman of Hamas’s Political Bureau:
In early 2024, three of his sons and three grandchildren were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip. On 31 July 2024, Haniyeh was himself assassinated by an Israeli strike during a visit to Iran.
He was in Iran for the inauguration of its new president.
Here’s an article on the assassination in the Times of Israel. Although Israel has not gone on record as having killed Haniyeh, it is pretty certain that’s what occurred.
I would think that the fact that Israel was able to strike him in Iran is somewhat chilling to both the leaders of Hamas and to Iranian leaders, despite their rhetorical bluster.
Meanwhile, Erdogan of Turkey has been issuing threats to invade Israel. I doubt he will, however.
https://x.com/TheMossadIL/status/1818674570825781756?t=coJ2hbnf5dV7XfFFCSQgyQ&s=19
A very short video loop at link.
The most impressive thing is Israel’s intelligence getting an exact location. They obviously have a number of very well placed assets in Iran. And the precision seems very good too, just killing Haniyeh and one of his bodyguards, nobody else being reported dead (so far anyway).
I assume there will be some sort of face-saving retaliation conducted by Iran and its various proxies and allies, which Israel must fully expect. Perhaps they’ll launch a bunch of rockets or whatever.
I’m guessing this didn’t have anything to do with the bombing of the soccer game a few days ago…I’d bet this was just a case of seizing opportunity.
Qatar is a US Ally so Israel wouldn’t strike them there, or the Hamas leaders living there would already be dead.
He made the mistake of traveling to Iran, which Israel has no such qualms about.
Result: DRT (Dead Right There)
I’m sure it’s chilling to the remaining Hamas leaders living in Qatar…they’ve got to be rethinking any travel plans they might have in the works.
It’s also got to be chilling to the leadership of Iran and possibly some other nations who aren’t exactly Israel’s friends: Israel has nuclear weapons and they were able to get aircraft across the airspace of at least two separate hostile (to varying degrees) nations and half-way across a decidedly hostile Iran to drop a precision munition on a visiting “dignitary” in the freaking Capital no less…and the Iranians were caught completely by surprise.
Oops.
I wouldn’t want to be anywhere within the chain of command of Iran’s air defense system this week.
Israel isn’t claiming credit because they want to maintain “plausible deniability”: Everyone knows they did it, but no one can prove a thing.
Excellent kill w/ quadruple bonus of it being done in Iran — in Tehran.
Update: no, much larger than just a simple quadruple bonus when you add in the whining, and wailing, and an infinite cry for REVENGE. They (Iran and its cronies) bomb, shoot, and try to kill Israelis every day — then they want revenge for this. hahaaahahaaa!
These high-level hits…they know where these dudes are, to the apartment number and time of day.
That’s got to be scary and have them eating up their own inner circle, down to the assistant,part-time driver and dish washer.
Erdogan threatens, but will do anything? Probably not, because his rule may be shaky. And he knows that Israel will make him pay, greatly.
Calls to mind the excellent Israeli series on Apple TV, “Tehran,” about a Mossad spy who goes undercover in Tehran. The release of season 3 has been delayed because of the war.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/apple-tv-and-israels-kan-delay-release-of-tehran-season-3/
The Iranian people hate the mullahocracy, it wouldn’t surprise me if there were some willing to give the regime a black eye.
From what admittedly little I’ve read of their history, isn’t Persia/Iran traditionally tolerant of minority religions?
We have previously discussed on this blog how the Arab elites sacrifice the poor to holy wars – and in particular, the willingness of “Aryan” Iranians to defend Islam to the last ethnic Arab… Israel is breaking the gentlemen’s agreement by targeting the higher-ups.
It also feeds the seething jealousy and resentment of the masses a shot of schadenfreude, setting the hostile elements of Arab society against each other.
Erdogan ordering an attack upon American ally Israel would alienate Turkey from the US and its European client states.
“Israel is breaking the gentlemen’s agreement by targeting the higher-ups.” BenDavid
An action long past due. Consequence must be personal.
Would be interesting and chilling to know how Iran is investigating for the leaks as to time and place.
The usual middle east interrogation techniques would doubtless lead to innumerable false leads.
Those separated by one degree from the interrogated are going to have a new view of things, I suspect.
It’s been reported that one of his bodyguards (presumably not the one killed) gave him up. I would hope Israel is protecting him somehow.
Could this headline be more disheartening and the contrast with the Israeli approach to enemies more stark?
https://nypost.com/2024/07/31/us-news/9-11-mastermind-ksm-and-two-other-terrorists-awaiting-trial-on-guantanamo-bay-strike-plea-deals/?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=nypost&utm_source=twitter
These fiends should have been woodchipped into compost an age ago.